The present invention pertains to an adapter for converting manually depressible keys to joystick control. In a specific embodiment, the invention contemplates a joystick adapter for use with a video game controller for mounting over the directional keypad.
Since the advent of the home video game explosion in the late 1970's, the game controller has become a fixture in a majority of the American homes. In its typical form, the video game controller constitutes a hand-held base with a keypad for directional control buttons and a keypad for buttons that perform a variety of functions, such as fire, run, jump, etc. As one might expect, the great commercial success of home video games has spawned a growing secondary market for modified game controllers. Much of the design work in this field has been focused upon making the controllers more ergonomic and more easily used by the video game enthusiast of any age.
For example, manufacturers of game controllers have modified the arrangement and orientation of the directional control buttons of the keypad, as well as the operational buttons. Others have modified the structure of the controller to include pistol grips or other types of gripping surfaces. In these instances, the structure of the controller promotes operation of the various keypad buttons by the user's left and right thumbs. Still other game controller manufacturers have substituted the hand held game controller for a supported unit that includes a separate joystick in lieu of the directional keypad.
While the fixed based controllers incorporating joysticks have managed to capture the benefits of using a joystick, these devices suffer from the need to be supported on a table or flat surface, or on the user's lap. In this sense, these types of game controllers are not hand held. At the same time, the fixed base joystick controller generally must be manipulated by grabbing the joystick, which is generally not ergonomic or comfortable to the user.
One approach that has been suggested for modifying hand held game controllers is shown in the patent of Hultstrand, U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,261. This patent discloses an adapter for a keypad that includes a disc mounted on top of each of the directional keys. While this device approximates the function of a joystick, it does not have the same lever arm as a typical joystick. Moreover, the device shown in the '261 Patent must be held in position by the user since it is not separately connected to the game control pad.
Other similar approaches have been taken in the design of adapters for cursor control keys on a typical computer keyboard. For example, the patents of Tal, U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,357; Fisher, U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,019; Martovitz, U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,574 show joystick adapters that are freely supported on the keyboard surface and that toggle to depress the respective cursor keys. In each of these three designs, the joystick adapter is specifically configured for use on a computer keyboard, utilizing one of the keys as a fulcrum point for the operation of the remaining keys.
In another genre of patents, a joystick adapter is separately mounted to a computer keyboard, as represented by the patents of Lugaresi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,591; Langewis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,768 and DuBosque, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,219. Again, these patents focus on joystick control for cursor keys on a computer keypad. Moreover, each of these patents show a very complicated structure for supporting the joystick on the keyboard body, a structure that is not feasible for use with a hand held video game controller.
There remains a need in the video game industry for an adapter for use with a hand-held game controller, and particularly an adapter for converting manual buttons of a manual keypad to joystick control. This same need can apply to computer keyboards where a simple and ergonomically feasible joystick adapter can be beneficial.